Studies & Meditations on: Architectural Profession Representation Housing Crisis Capitalism Utopia
dissertation carc_6003
edited by Ayo Rosanwo
Representations of The House & Visions of The City
Critical Studies & Analysis On Postwar Housing Projects & Works In Britain
Ayo Rosanwo Stage 3 BA (Honours) Architecture 1301713 Alan Atlee Tutor Canterbury School of Architecture University for the Creative Arts
Representations of The House & Visions of The City Critical Studies & Analysis On Postwar Housing Projects & Works In Britain CARC 6003 | Dissertation 10th of January 2017 5529 words (8485 + Quotations)
Representations of The House & Visions of The City Critical Studies & Analysis On Post War Housing Projects & works In Britain Studies & Meditations on: The Architectural Profession, Representation, Housing Crisis, Capitalism & Utopia
Content
0.0 Abstract
Page 8
1.0 Preamble
Page 9
2.0 Introduction: Housing crisis - A series of Short Manifestos
Page 12
Excerpt 01: The House is a Machine for Capital Accumulation
Page 13
Excerpt 02: Metropolis - Exit the 99%
Page 14
Excerpt 03: Youthful Polemics - Dreams of Home Ownership
Page 17
3.0 Methodology Matrix - Experimental Analysis
Page 18
- David Harvey’s Space matrix.
Page 19
- Matrix: Experiments and Adaptations
Page 21
4.0 Discussions on the products/powers of the Architect
Page 23
- Questions of Theory and Practice
Page 23
- Drawing as a transformational device
Page 25
- Film as trans-dimensional device
Page 26
5.0 Samples & Analysis
Page 29
- Representations of the Family & Domesticity
Page31
- Representations of Society
Page 33
5.0 Samples & Analysis Representations of Nature & Leisure
Page 39
Representations of Technology
Page 43
6.0 Post-Script
Page 47
7.0 Last words
Page 48
8.0 Bibiliography
Page 50
9.0 List of Illustrations
Page 52
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0.0 Abstract
This paper initially emerged out of a personal interest in the process (and outcome) of creative representation. Representation which manifest itself in various forms such as drawings, photographs, renders, collages, films, exhibitions and text. This interest began during the early months of my undergraduate degree at Canterbury School of Architecture, where experimentation with these ‘tools’ are encouraged and embedded in its studio culture. As creative thinkers we are constantly engaged in the process of using these tools as mediums to communicate and ultimately realise ideas. In parallel to this interest, this paper provided the opportunity to tackle a curiosity of mine. This curiosity is concerned with the current housing crisis. Over the summer I spent some months at architecture firm AHMM, working on the controversial Elephant park project. My short time working on the Lendlease housing scheme offered very useful insight, triggering important questions about the genealogy of the housing crisis. The purpose of this dissertation is to begin the process of understanding the roles the architect plays/played in past and current housing crisis over the last six decades, through the products of his work. To begin, I immersed myself in the frightful toil of searching, sifting, selecting, comparing, critiquing1 and deciphering works by chosen architects, urban designers and creative thinkers in Britain, since the postwar period. For the contention of this paper I have divided this time frame into two key parts, 1950 - 1965 representing the ‘state’ architect and 1975 - 2016 representing the ‘market’ architect. It is my hope, the reasoning behind this period division becomes clear as this paper unfolds. Traditionally, the use of a drawing, is in describing buildings in the context of construction, communication and occasionally to record and archive. It is in the ‘mode’ of communication/representation where this paper intends to situate itself. The task of this paper is to analyse shifts in the way architects and urban designers have represented visions of the city - in particular through an analysis of housing projects and creative works since postwar Britain.
1 The word critique carries with it a very negative tone which often scares the practitioner to run away from it or respond to it with disconcertment. It is merely a tool through which we create in the same way a diagram or a sketch is employed by the architect.
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1.0 Preamble
1.1 Question Seven decades on, since the housing crisis of the postwar period, Britain, its architects and urban designers are yet again faced with the same issue of a housing crisis and the ‘ideal’ city. ‘Considering the various themes of domesticity, nature, society, technology and the family. How has visions/representations of the house and city shifted, since the postwar period in Britain?’ 1.2 Aims This paper sets out to examine what capacity the architect has to change/ respond to the issue of a housing crisis, through the products of his works. This is to be achieved through an analysis of architects works during the post war housing crisis, in particular housing projects such as Heygate estate, Cotton gardens and Robinhood gardens. Other works analysed from this period take various forms such as creative text, film, photography and exhibitions such as ‘This Is Tomorrow, 1956’. Selected works shown and analysed in this paper have been chosen and treated forensically as ‘samples’2 taken from the past. The purpose of this is that the depth in ‘samples’ substantiate arguments put forward in this paper. The depictive nature of the process of representation means that, by default, it cannot be ideologically neutral. It is in many was partial. There is a train of decisions and choices being made in the construction of any given representation. Put simply, for each ‘public image’ there are decisions such as; the ideal public space chosen to be depicted, the composition/style of public of life, the demographics of people which fill the image, etc. With each of those decisions, the outcome/state of that image changes and so do the ideas portrayed in the image. Part of the task of this paper is to examine and understand those decisions respective to each ‘sample’ taken from the context/period it was constructed in. In the book ‘Fact in fiction...1972’ by Rockwell. J, he argued for the use of literature in the study of society on the basis that literature was is both implicated in the representation of society as well as the generation of culture it was 2 I have chosen to treat my data set as ‘samples’, in the same way the archaeologist/scientist treats soil samples dug from layers of earth. The layers embedded in each sample has within it secrets & context about its era, slowly increasing the knowledge of the scientist with bits of data.
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1.0 Preamble
constructed in. It is this same recogintion this paper advocates, for the constructs/ products of the archtect. Drawings and creative works are in many ways cultural productions, that can be used to guage where we are as a society. When we dig underneath the surface of these works, we find the values the author gives importance to. These values are very much influenced by the world he/she sees, works and exist in. Hence, it is almost inevitable that these values & works will have embedded in them political, social and economical choices that have informed their construct.
1.3 Methodology Firstly, to arrive at a viable answer to the question posed in this dissertation, the method employed will seek to analyse specific drawings, renders, sketches or photographs from two projects intended for the same location. However, they are almost half a century apart. The recently demolished 1972 Heygate Estate and the current elephant park project are the two projects in question. There is a certain measure of ‘fairness’ which this act satisfies, but even more important, it is my belief it will offer a focused insight in measuring/revealing shifts in the way designers have represented visions of the city. Secondly, organising the visions of the city into themes of nature, technology, domesticity and society, the paper examines other projects and works of selected designers over a 70-year period since 1945. The works chosen are selected for reasons of varitey, taking the form of; Utopian posters of the postwar period, text and literature from urban designers like LCC architects or Allison Peter Smithson and exhibitions and movements such as ‘This is Tomorrow, 1953’. The intention of this is to generate a full scope of discourse which exsisted within the chosen period, which will then be used to support/verify ideas and arguements put forward in this paper. In Parallel to the above, a form of experimental thinking/sorting/analysis is employed. Using the David Harvey’s space matrix as inspiration, a new matrix was formulated, which I used as a template to insert my data set (samples) into. This was done as a means to not only organise the various data I collected into a theoretical frame work but also as a tool to formulate new meaning and interpretations of drawings and chosen images.
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1.4 The Projects & Selected Works. Heygate Estate was a large housing estate built in 1974, sheltering more than 3000 residents in 1200 socially rented homes. It was designed by architect Tim Tinker, while he worked as a Southwark Council architect. Labelled the ‘Muggers paradise’ it’s believed to represent the everything wrong with the post-war approach to social housing and urban design. Responding to the building’s controversial status, Tim Tinker blamed poor maitainance for its dereclict state before it was finnaly demoloshed in 2014. Elephant Park is the housing project replacing the Heygate Estate. It is due for completion in 2025, however, even before its completion the scheme has already achieved a controversial status due to its planning scandal with Southwark Council. Its reception has been anything but positive and rightly so when one considers it is expected to situate 2535 homes of which only 79 are socially rented homes. Putting its controversy aside, there have been countless drawings publicated, which depict the £1.5bn scheme. Robinhood Gardens is a housing estate designed by Allison Peter Smithson in the 1960s and completed in 1972. Brutalist in style and form, the scheme contains 213 flats. Similar to Heygate its demolition was approved in 2012, and visualisations of its successore have recently been published by Haworth Tompkins and Metropolitan Workshop. Cotton Gardens is a housing estate in lambeth, designed by George Finch. It was approved in 1966 and completed in 1968. Its prefabricated constuction was seen as an examplar to other housing projects in its time. This perhaprs testament to the fact that no demolition request has been made on it thus far. ‘This is Tomorrow’ was a 1956 exhibition which took place at London’s White chapel gallery. It was curated by Bryan Robertson and it consisted of twelve seprate enviroments. Each enviroment was created by a team of one architect, a painter and a scultptor. The aim of the show was to consider the future, but not in a presciptive way. ‘George Finch: Industrialised Buildings’ is a short film George Finch carried out in the late 1960s disscussing the benefits of industrialization, prefabrication & technology.
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THE ISSUE A HOUSING CRISIS A SERIES OF SHORT MANIFESTOS AND MEDITATIONS
[1] Matthew Lavanchy, The House is a Machine for Capital Accumulation. 2016
Introduction
2.0
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2.1 Excerpt i
The House is a machine for capital accumulation At the forefront of architecture in Britain, is not only a crisis of housing but a crisis of how we live. The way we live is rapidly changing under intense pressures of financial, technological, geopolitical and sociological forces. The modern society has formulated new social power relations and family structures, while also creating issues of wealth inequality, mass migration and a constantly growing population. The values which once constituted a home, has slowly and visibly been eroded and transformed into a financial commodity - measured in square meters. Not only does this new state allow the developer to calculate and improve profit margins with his excel spreadsheet but it now drives and controls the ‘creative’ pen of the architect. The influence of this culture of capital accumulation has found its way into the drawings of the architect, where he is now forced and required to essentially create ‘money’ drawings. These drawings have other names, GIA (Gross Internal Area), NIA (Net internal Area), GIFA (Gross Internal Floor Area) etc. The aim - to be able to calculate accurately, the amount of money that can be charged per square metre area. ‘Function’ and ‘aesthetics’ remain important, however, ‘profit’ has become a major element in the equation. How did it come to this, you might ask? There are various accounts as to the cause. In fairness, there are many factors that contributed to the situation we now face. What certainly hasn’t helped is the control the market now holds over the architect. Originally the architect was a functionary of the state (LCC)3, tasked with creating works which served public and the state. Both the 99% and the 1% had equal control of the architect. Unable to sustain its relationship with the architect, the state released us into the world and disbanded the London County Council. To survive the architect was left to fend for himself, lost in the folds of a capitalist economy. In time the architect learnt to satisfy his new master. The Market.
3 London County Council was the principal local governing body for the city of London, tasked with educations, city planning and council housing.
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2.2 Excerpt ii
[2] Matthew Lavency, Finacial crisis is the new normal 2014
Metropolis - Exit the 99% Housing in the metropolis (London) is perpetually in short supply as a result of our economic model of ownership pursuing two polar opposite demands simultaneously. On the one hand, capitalism thrives on the reduction of wages while benefiting & profiting from rent and property value on the other. Under capitalism, which engages constantly in the process of monetising and commodifiying everything, an industrial working class of low wage labourers found solace and thrived. Now under a neoliberalist model, this particular group of labourers have been compelled and passed on to new modes of employment such as freelancing. As a class they amount for a considerable part of the British society, ranging from the well-educated ‘creatives’ to the migratory zero-hour shift workers. For many in the 99% bracket, house prices in Britain and London in particular, have become unaffordable relative to earnings. The lack of increase in new houses being built coupled with high house prices make mortgages unaffordable to all but the most income rich. The 99% are the left with three unfavourable options: to either find a means of increasing their income, move further outside of London in search of more viable house prices or they stay in the private rented sector. Private rental is generally not ideal for the increasing number of families that are finding themselves stuck in this model of housing.
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[3]
[4]
[3] Matthew Lavency, Nothing exist outside the sphere of capitalsm 2014 [4] Matthew Lavency, In all statistical probability you... own a home 2014
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‘‘Home ownership for younger generations is increasingly determined by the extent to which their parents benefited from previous housing market booms...’’. Local Government Association, The Indepenent ‘‘I’m a recent graduate, already facing financial instability, uncertainty in the job market, trying to work out my future...’’. Zainabb Hull, The Guardian ‘‘The increase in fees is just making further education elitist and out of reach for many...’’. Sani Drive, London. The Guardian
‘‘Many young people are feeling let down by a democratic system that produced a result that they didn’t like. Lots of my generation genuinely do care about the EU, but perhaps hadn’t realised the force they were up against...’’ Lara Prendergast, 2016 ‘‘ I feel scared for the future of the economy and the future of our country too. I am not feeling proud to be British, and I think that the majority of my demographic feel similarly...’’ Jack Webb, Corby. The Guardian
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2.3 Excerpt iii
Youthful Polemics: Dreams of home ownership
[5] Bansky, No Future, 2010
Recent events over the past year, has seen the relationship between young people and British politics become a particularly complex and fragile one. In recent memory, there’s the obvious topic of brexit and a few months before, there was the announcement of a tuition fee increase. In parallel to these events, a recent IFS report (Institute of Fiscal Studies, Income Gap 2016) showed income of young people decreasing by 7%. A precursor to the above was already an issue of job prospects and aspirations of home ownership, which have become evermore unattainable with each passing financial year. As discussed earlier, the current state of house prices mean mortgages are unaffordable. The private rented sector doesn’t provide much options either, for ‘creatives’ like myself on an architect’s salary, aspiring to live close to work in the capital. On several occasions during my summer placement, I participated in conversations where fully qualified young architects, couldn’t afford living in London any longer, opting to move back home to their parents. I have so far presented a largely negative view on the future and current state of Britain for the ‘creatives’. However, it must be said that this is not Britain’s first housing crisis and most likely wont be the last. And although the challenges we face are on the extreme end, every generation more often than not, face similar obligations and opportunities to reinvent society and its history afresh. It is up to our generation to seize this opportunity and find solutions to the current housing crisis. We must take up this responsibility and operate objectively outside the bubble of pessimisms & distractions that cripple the current society. To seize being reactionary, but purposefully proactive.
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METHODOLOGY MATRIX EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS A DIFFERENT ‘LENS’ FOR CRITIQUE & ANALYSIS DAVID HARVEY
T
[6] David Harvey, Space as a keyword Matrix. 2004
he past few pages have been used as precursors to set up the tone of discourse on issues this paper is concerned with. In this chapter, a form of experimental thinking is introduced and put into practice. The nature of this experiment is focused on testing out a new mode of thinking about space and the built world, using David Harvey’s space matrix. In some moments, the analysis executed delves into the realm of the abstract. However, it is my hope that it uncovers new and refreshing ways of thinking about space, And also equips me with a different set of ‘lenses’ to use in analysing a series of visual data in chapter’s 4.0 & 5.0
3.0
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3.1 David Harvey’s Space Matrix - What is Space ? “Thinking through the different ways in which space and space-time get used as a key word helps define certain conditions of possibility for critical engagement and for class struggle…It invites us to consider the ways we physically shape our environment and the ways in which we both represent and get to live it.”3 - Harvey, 2004
3 To attempt to formulate a series of sentences to pose a philosophical answer (if there is one) to such a philosophical question, requires a considerable level of intellectual content and also a vast amount of time, both beyond the scope afforded to this paper. However, for contention of this paper, David Harvey’s dialectics on space offers a framework, which I intended to use to navigate and situate my analysis and series of meditations on what space means and how we represent it. It is important to understand that space, in this study, is no longer about questions of only the physical and environmental. Using Harvey’s theory, space can be explained as a set of categories; absolute, relative, relational or any combination of these depending on the context in which they are being discussed. This approach to space is important because it encompasses the power structures, social ideologies and cultural issues the architect responds to when he operates in/represents the various modes of space.
- Absolute Space: Harvey describes this as a fixed point in which we can record measure or plan events within its frame. It is the space where private property and territorial boundaries exist. It is also within this space we find the city, the house or the room. - Relative Space: In this context space is defined as a complex relationship between objects which exists only because objects exist and relate to each other. In other words, our perception of space influenced by our own experience of time, distance and other factors such as our socio-political convention or emotion. - Relational Space: This can be understood as a subspace of relative space through which we can discuss the relationship between two objects or energies which interact with one another.
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Experimenting “For without the act of experimentation and investigation, no new knowledge can be discovered.�
Definition: An attempt at something new or different; an effort to be original.
The act of conducting an investigation or test. (Oxford English Dictionary)
METHODOLOGY REPRESENTATION SAMPLE MATRIX AN ADAPTATION OF DAVID HARVEY’S MATRIX
3.2
Absolute Space
Relative Space Nature & Leisure
Family & Domesticity
Relational Space
Techonology & Soceity
Tradition
Drawings, Renders, Photographs
Gender equality
Thingification
Film & Exhibitions
Text, Policy & Movements
‘This Is Tomorrow’ 1953. White Chapel Emma Sulkowicz, 2015. ‘Seven deadly scenes’ Exhibition Home Economics. British Pavillion Venice Biennale 2016 Alexandra Road : The internet of things. Literature review Home Economics. Jack Self & schumi Bose. Literature 2016 David Harvey. ‘Right to the city’ 2014
‘Panel: From Garden city to city in the Garden’ youtube video
Douglas Murphy. Last Futures. literature 2016 The Garden City Movement
Emma Sulkowicz, 2015. ‘Seven deadly scenes’ Exhibition Home Economics. British Pavillion Venice Biennale 2016
Home Economics. Jack Self & schumi Bose. Literature 2016 Douglas Murphy. Last Futures. lietrature 2016
‘This Is Tomorrow’ 1953. White Chapel Exhibition Emma Sulkowicz, 2015. ‘Seven deadly scenes’ Exhibition Hill John, Sex Class and Realism. 1986 Film
Alexandra Road : The internet of things. Literature review Douglas Murphy. Last Futures. lietrature 2016
Alexandra Road : The internet of things. Literature review David Harvey. ‘Right to the city’ 2014
David Harvey. ‘Right to the city’ 2014
Douglas Murphy. Last Futures. literature 2016
Planning, Housing Standards & Schemes
George Finch on Industrial buildings. Utopia London Film Home Economics. British Pavillion Venice Biennale 2016 ‘This Is Tomorrow’ 1953. White Chapel Exhibition New Town Utopia, Film by Chrsitopher Ian Smith
London Housing Design Guide ‘Right To Buy Scheme’ Conservative Goverment
Heygate Estate
‘Right To Buy Scheme’ Conservative Goverment ‘Right To Rent Scheme’ Conservative Goverment
Robinhood Gardens
Cotton Gardens
Elephant Park
‘Right To Buy Scheme’ Conservative Goverment ‘Right To Rent Scheme’ Conservative Goverment
Heathrow City
‘This is Tomorrow’
‘Seven deadly sins’
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4.0 Discussions on the Products/Powers of the Architect
“I must say that what interests me more is to focus on what the Greeks called techne, that is to say, a practical rationality governed by a conscious goal..If one wanted to do a history of architecture, I think it should be much more along the lines of that general history of the techne...”Michel Foucault, 2007 “...Representation as part of the production of architecture is one of the most important operations that articulates theory and practice.”4 Diana Egrest, 2000. Stan allen essays. Pg 164.
4 Architecture - in absolute space - is traditionally produced through three different mediums: writing, drawing and building. It is within this process of architectural production, questions of representation come into the fore. From the simple lines on rolls of paper by early ‘paper architects’, to the hyper real images made possible by recent technologies and render engines, the need for representation techniques that create a context for the viewer/ client to understand, projected dreams and ideologies has a long historical trail. It is through this avenue that practitioners of the professions (and associated arts) gather and communicate their inner most thoughts. It is at this junction where designers’ theory and practice collide. One could then define architectural representation as the place of articulation between theory and practice. If we then take that to be an event that happens constantly during design thinking, it is important, to recognise the relational space (context) in which each representation was created. Be it cultural, socio-political or technological. The next few pages will discuss the various tools of representation independently and as a precursor to these pages, there are a few questions I would like to put forward. ‘What does it really mean to represent space?’ Is there ever really a representation of a ‘reality’ (or an idea/belief) when we represent space? Is representation simply a mirror image in a chain of other images that circulate from one mode to another, proposing or letting us believe, that there is a direct referent/clone in absolute space which our minds can relate to? What is it about the nature of this practice (representation) that allows it to slide between the various levels of Harvey’s space matrix at various points of architectural production? To also assist in the understanding of various ways we represent space, there is an analysis of Diana Agrest meditation on architecture and representation in her book bearing the same name.
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[7]
[8]
[7] Vidal Tape : Tree cities and a house. 2016 [8] AHMM, Elephant Park. 2014
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4.1 Tools of Representation: Drawing as a transformational device
“To claim that architecture is a material practice working in and among the world of things - an instrumental practice capable of transforming reality - is not to lose sight of architecture’s complicated compromise with techniques of representation”5 Diana Agrest, 2000. Pg XXI “ The Secret of the image...must not be sought in its differentiation from reality , and hence its representative value (aesthetic , critical or dialiectical), but on the contrary in its ‘telescoping’ into reality and finally the imposion of image and reality.”6 J. Baudrillard, 1984. Pg 25-6
5 There is an issue to be resolved here in the proclamation of the capacity for architecture to transform reality. To make such a statement is problematic in that it is not specific about the manner in which architectural practice and representation can achieve this transformation. If we focus on the conventional exercise of professional practice/ representation (i.e. plans, elevations and sections) and the idea that reality is only changed when something new is created, is creating drawings to represent & build a suburban home transforming reality? Is it merely just a case of adding stock to existing reality? I believe the truth lies more with the latter. 6 With the above said, another mode of thought is offered by J. Baudrillard which subtly suggest a transformative potential of architectural representation. Architectural production itself is formulated by this promiscuous mixture of the real and the abstract and in the translation between drawing and building exist a traffic of images that circulate in complex and uncontrollable ways. The nature of architectural representation [Image 7] means it cannot distance or defend itself from the dominant image culture which saturates the contemporary world we live in. It is through this relationship (albeit involuntary) that architectural representation benefits from the phenomena, Baudrillard describes above. Where increasingly, there is a definitive lack of differentiation between images and reality, due to an implosion of both. It is perhaps at this precipice, Diana agrest’s manifesto (architectural practice’s transformative potential) can be realised. The next question this school of thought raises, is if this leaves any actual room for representation anymore ?
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4.2 Tools of Representation: Film as a trans-dimensional device
“The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore whatever happens on the televison screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it.”7 Videodrome,1982. “...From the moment are outside ourselves - in that ecstasy which is the image the ‘real’ enters an equivocal realm....”8 Maurice Blanchot, Space of literature, Pg.262
7 & 8 The two quotes above raise some interesting questions about the ability for film to effortlessly transpose an individual between dimensions of space (The real and absolute to imagined and relative space). The unique quality of this tool of representation to express duration coupled with its capacity to reproduce change and movement over time, creates the impression that time itself is caught in the nets of its representation. At this point the nature of this process enables the viewer to build bridges between reality/absolute space and relative space. The nature of this tool offers the architect great control in that, the very moment the retina and the television screen merge, we become the ‘camera lens’. The control here is offered through the architect’s ability to dictate the motion and focus of the camera. He controls where the camera is in space[3], what it looks at, the speed of its pan and most important of all the narrative. In a sense we become puppets manipulated through space. The discussions above also relate to a larger discourse of the camera as a technological tool for utopia in the Media city. The utopian dreams of the 1960s and ‘70s wouldn’t have been the same without the new forms of representation used by the avant-garde architects, where every viewer was in a position to decipher the message behind the represented work. The speed with which the camera carried out this process of ‘image/message and communication’ was unparalleled. The electrical billboards[3] and screens dotted around the city nodes (Times Square & Piccadilly Circus) is perhaps testament to this.
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[9]
[10]
[9] Playtime, Shot in 70mm.1967 [10] Tagger Yancey IV, Times Square, 2011
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Domesticity “...the atmosphere is one of happy domesticity.�
Definition: 1: home or family life. 2: the quality or state of being domestic or domesticated 3: domestic activities or life
(Oxford English Dictionary)
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REVIEW SAMPLES & ANALYSIS OF REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CITY & HOUSE
[11] Home Economics, 2014
Domesticity & The Family
5.0
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[12]
[13]
[12] Sample 001: George Finch, Artist impression Piazza 1966 [13] Sample 002: Tim Tinker Courtyard Heygate Estate, Southwark Council 1973.
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5.1 Representations of Domesticity & Family
“In the main, the home as a physical construct is not changing, whereas social and family structures are...”9 J Nordon, Home Economics 2016.
[14] Sample 03: AHHMM, Cinema room, Elephant Park, 2014
The Evolution of the family 9 Among all the components that make up the home, the family[12] has experienced the most change since the post war period[13]. The nuclear family, which is a traditional family with two parents and their children, was the most common family structure in the 20th century. However, this accolade is quickly becoming a tale of the past with single parent families, step families, single person households and co-habitants joining the status quo of housing. To speak of the British housing market today, is to speak of complex family structures, where there has been a decline in marriages and a growth in cohabiting. Where over one in three (35 per cent) of all marriages are now remarriages. Where step-families and single households[14] are the fastest growing family forms in Britain. In ‘Sample 03’[14], the two age groups [young professionals and the old] that make up most of the single person household category are in display. With 1 in 3 children born in Britain today expected to live to 100, coupled with a steady birth rate - the single person hold is expected to thrive.
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A New Target Audience : Millennials
“The home is changing from a stage set for domestic life to a space where private, public and professionals lives, coeixst and collide...”10 I Allen, HAB Housing 2016 ‘‘Exclusion from conventional home ownership could give the next generation the freedom to invent new and exciting ways to live...”11 R Bagenal, Naked House 2015
[15] Sample 004: AHMM, Concierge, Elephant Park, 2014
10 The extent of how intensely this change has occurred over the past few years isn’t to be underestimated. It is changing the landscape of the property market for both the developers and the habitants. The emergence of the millennials and their unconventional way living which seeks to combine work, living and social spaces into one entity are single handedly forming their own spot in the property market. Image [15] is perhaps a testament to this new phenomena, where you can’t quite tell what is depicted. Apartment lobby ? Office Reception ? A hotel reception ? It could be any one those. Alert and aware of the new players in the market, developers like The Collective, are now planning and building high rise apartments around the capital. 11 This alludes to the current housing crises where many millennials have been priced out of any opportunity for home ownership. This shut out was and continues to be the precursor which triggered new forms of housing tenancy & developers such as co-living, The naked house, The Collective etc.
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5.2 Representations of Society
“If we’re not careful, our willingness to buy into thingification may result in the loss of a part of our humanity...”12 M. Bianco, 2016 “ Social media is an economy of the self—hence the rise of the “selfie.” Sharing a selfie has become a type of transaction...”13 M. Bianco, 2016
[16] Sample 05: This is Tomorrow, Group 2. 1956
The Commodification of Everything + The Woman 12 The portrayal of women in creative media during and since the post war period is a subject that has forced much public debate, especially from female audience. It is understandably so, when one considers the culture of thingification nurtured by a largely utopian and capitalist economy that drove the post industrial period. It must be acknowledge that this culture has slowly decreased since the post war period, with more and more people aware of its problems. With many exhibitions like the seven deadly sins raising awareness and critiquing such culture. It would also be naive however, to assume it has been entirely eradicated. In fact, I would argue it has taken up a new form and found its home in the realm of social media. 13 By engaging in the image culture of the selfies, In a way we are making of ourselves into “things”–commodities for others’ consumption.
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[17]
[18]
[17] Sample 06: Sylvie Macias Diaz ADO Lisière D’OR 2014 [18] Sample 07: PLP Architects, Cafe - Old Oak Common 2016
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5.2 Representations of Society “With younger generations becoming more accustomed to sharing cars, taxis and now homes, we are seeing a middle ground emerge between buying and renting..”14 B. Jessup, First Base, 2016 “Sharing can be a luxury, not a compromise...” Home Economics, Pg 78
[19] Sample 08: Anna Mill, Naked apartment illustrations, 2016
The ‘era of Shared-Living’ 14 Voluntary or Involuntarily - what is clear - is that we are living in a society where sharing is the new norm. In some ways our generation has slowly been programmed by technology to engage in the culture of sharing. In a society dominated by social media, we are entrapped in the constant of act of sharing images, experiences, information and ‘selfies’. This phenomenon has now also found its way into our housing choices [19]. To many, it is simply a good solution to the issue of affordability in capital plagued with high house prices, wage stagnation and record levels personal & household debt. To some it offers the quality of community[18], which is invaluable in a society where wealth inequality and perpetual austerity thrive. Furthermore, It creates conditions for social and physical contact, relieving us from the inevitable feeling of alienation that technology creates over a sustained period.
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[20] Sample 09: PLP Architects, Stratford Collective. 2016
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[21]
[22]
[21] Sample 10: PLP Architects, Aerial view Stratford Collective. 2016 [22] Sample 11: PLP Architects, Program DiagramStratford Collective. 2016
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[23]
[24]
[23] Sample 12: Tim Tinker, Artist Impression Piazza. 1973 [24] Sample 13: Make Architects, Garden Elephant Park 2014
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5.3 Representations of Nature & Leisure
“We are witnessing a “greening” of our society” O, Waine. Metropolitics 2014 “Our need for nature is currently expressed with greater intensity than in any previous period in history, cottages and cabins – past symbols of humans’ desire for nature – have been replaced by dreams of a detached house with a garden.”15 O, Waine. Metropolitics 2014
[25] Sample 14: Make Architects, Roof top garden. Elephant Park 2014
Metropolitics: Nature & the city 15 There are interesting issues to be resolved with the second quote above, in the name of nature and the contemporary commodification of it as a luxury item. While nature and the city have historically been opposing concepts, attitudes today are different: we now actively seek new ways to reconcile and combine the two in a harmonious coexistence. In various ways, images on this page and adjacent represent a shift in a mode of thinking executed by their authors. For instance, sample 12 [23] represents the architect as a function of the state, whereas sample’s 13 and 14 represent the architect of the market. In the former, the values of separation, privacy and control are evident. Whereas in Image [23], the values of the community, sharing and equality celebrated as the trees dot their way through the piazza uninterrupted and accessible. The true values and ideals of the Garden city.
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[26]
[27]
[26] Sample 15: AHMM Architects, Gym. Elephant Park 2014 [27] Sample 16: AHMM Architects. West Grove Street. Elephant Park 2014
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5.3 Representations of Nature & Leisure
“The home is changing in response to the changing lifestyle trends of our generation, with the focus moving away from the tangible space to the intangible value-added services and sense of community, demanded by an ever-increasingly transient population...”16 R. Merchant, The Collective, 2016
[28] Sample 17: Heygate Estate, 1973
The Era of the ‘Serviced’ Apartment 16 In sample 17[28], we see nature and leisure represented as components planned horizontally in zones and arranged in a binary manner of house, tree and play. This is a concept which is essentially replicated on the two other post war housing projects examined in this paper. In the case of Robinhood gardens, you have the apartment at the surrounding the circular ‘play’ zone (Valley) while the trees dot their way around the courtyards. Compared to the visualisations created by AHMM[26 & 27], and other modern visualisations of the apartment block, there is a common intention for these programmes to be fully integrated into the modern apartment, vertically. This act is linked directly to the growing trend of the Serviced Apartment, which consist of the shared living spaces of a flatshare combined with the services one would expect from a hotel. The planned Stratford Collective apartments for example , will boast of services such as; a gym,a stage, quiet room, drawing room, exhibition space and a cinema, alongside more traditional amenities. A games room, library, garden, as well as a spa. In other words, the upmarket version of a student-style housing for adult renters unable to join home owners club.
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[29]
[30]
[29] Sample 18: Getty, Future technology, 2015 [30] Sample 19: Hawkins Brown, Factory Homes Heathrow city, 2014
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5.4 Representations of Technology “ Home, as a physical place, the source and scene of experiences, is threatened by a new ‘connected’ world, virtual, unearned and rootless...”17 C. Kelly, Baylight Properties 2014.
[31] Sample 20: ICA, This is Tomorrow 1956
More Digital, Less Physical 17 the forefront of the intense change Britain is experiencing, is technology and its relationship to Man. Increasingly, technology is evolving to become evermore ‘invisible’ (Digital) while simultaneously intensifying its influence on the contemporary world through technologies that transform how we think about labour, identity and privacy. Today we don’t even have to be in the same part of the world to meet people, make friends or find a date. The growing trend of interacting more with our computers and less with people is a topic that has steered up much public debate due to the resulting feeling of alienation technology creates. I think what is interesting is that although there is - at worst, a general public approval of modern technology and its benefits, it hasn’t gone through the 21st century landscape unscathed by criticism. Certainly not in the manner the authors of sample 20[31] would have anticipated. With regards to our generation’s ‘positive’ reception and relationship with modern technology. Sample 20, portrays all the values which were good and also wrong with post war utopia. The good, embedded in the ability for utopia to enable us imagine and realise new environments that in turn shape us. The bad, underpinned by its obsession with perfection and disconnect from objectivity. Rendering us defenceless and unprepared for when our dreams and ideology don’t pan out as planned. This is in some ways the version of events that have occurred in most post war housing projects like Heygate estate.
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5.2 Representation of Nature & Leisure
[32]
[33]
[32] Sample 21: Hawkins Brown, Heathrow City 2014 [33] Sample 22: Justin Mcguirk, Smart Home Panel, 2015
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5.1 Representations of Technology “Ten years ago, you bought your new car from the car showroom, today you specify the exact car you want and it is built bespoke for you; the home is changing in the same way...” T. Bloxham, Home economics, 2016 “ How homes are made is changing, from speculative, cost-driven, mass production of units to individual customer-designed homes; from counting bricks to investing in dreams, the future is custom build...”18 C Brown, Iglo Regeneration, 2014
[34] Sample 23: Time, Cover of Time. ( July 7-12, 2014)
Discussions on the Smart Home 18 In the recent CES expo (2017), Smart home technologies accounted for the majority of new and upcoming innovations. There has been an interesting impetus to integrate further, technology into how homes. There are a few interesting issues to discuss in relation to the depiction of the smart home on the Time magazine cover. The smart home depicted is far from dramatic. Compared to Haworth Tompkin’s depiction of the future home in the Heathrow city [32] - also a 2014 depiction - the Time’s depictions is utterly prosaic in its appearance. It doesn’t venture far away from the homes you might expect in the suburban areas of Britain . It chose an affordable looking, suburban cookie-cutter house. Which is the more likely ? Both. I think both images epitomise what technology has offered man. The flexibility to achieve and realise our personal desires. Its ability to adjust, adapt and satisfy the ever changing parameters we set it. We have become so dependent on it that a reality without it is seemingly unfulfilling. We are sustained by it,enabled by it, that we cannot conceive of a world where its benefits are not there for us to enjoy. Is that a good thing ?
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Questions ‘‘Sometimes it happens that a question is for a moment more pertinent than answers or explanations. I’m not sure the question I want to ask is of this order, for it has the air of being naive. Nevertheless I’ll share it with you.’’ (Berger, 2007, p.107)
“Can we create models of housing that allow people to live out their enitre life within its structural walls?” “Is there a future possiblility where living and working, together or apart, are not contradictions but complementary poles? Where Sharing is the norm?” “What does it mean to live today and what constitutes the eternal qualities of space and the human form?” “How can the home be truly made future-proof?”
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6.0 Post Script:
Innovation in demand If one was to summarise the future of London as a capital in one word, that word would be unpredictable. Besides the obvious effects of Brexit - which has rendered the nation as a whole ‘idle’ - the very facets that form this city, are all experiencing change. Among these changing facets, is its population and demographic - and also the cause and effect relationship that it will have with the current housing crisis. The population of London is expected to continue growing by approx. 75,000 per year, and with this growth comes the continuous demand for more housing. Irrespective of these unavoidable problems of the housing crisis, it is critical that the architect maintains a critical perspective. We must not risk our future, by making the same mistakes earlier generations did. Where the urgency for building, crippled imagination and innovation. To begin the journey of relieving ourselves of this crisis we need to imagine new models of housing. These models must be grounded on the dynamics of current society but also equipped with anticipations of tomorrow’s society and not tomorrow’s technology. Its ideals must be founded on thorough understanding of how we live or expect to live in the coming years. The driver of innovation must be ‘man & society’ not the ‘possibilities’ afforded to us by future technology. For to choose the latter, risk failure. Perhaps, representations of the future we create today, should be powered with utopian optimism about future man and his society. To be future proof, architecture must ease its reliance on technology.
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...Last words Catalyst;
7.0
Definition: a person or thing that causes an event or situation, typically one that is undesirable noun: catalyst; plural noun: catalysts a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoin any permanent chemical change. (Oxford Dictionary)
The Architect as a catalyst for change. This paper set out to examine what capacity the architect has to change/influence the current housing crisis through the products of his work. It pondered upon the question, of how representations of the house and the city have evolved since the postwar period. Organising the manner in which these representations may have manifested within the themes of domesticity, nature, technology and the family. Now at the end of the paper, I believe what this paper has been able to deduct, is the following; The architect, at the very least, can either be an protagonist & antagonist for change through his works. To be the protagonist, he must bare the burden of objectivity in a society stigmatised pessimism & dystopia. Like a scientist he must shed all the weight of inherited conditions of subjectivity. Along with preconceptions of right and wrong. Honing his focus on the task of design and constantly questioning and inventing new ways of being. Immune to the mistakes and failures of past utopian projects. To be an antagonist for change, he/she simply has to do the opposite Drawings, text, exhibitions or films, constructed by architects & associated thinkers are manifestations of the context they are formed in. Embedded in them are a host of conscious political & socio economic decisions shaping their outcome. The capacity representations have, to initiate change is ultimately founded in their ability to force public debate. Alone, they are harmless & fragile. However, Armed with a responsible client - private or state - they become powerful weapons for change.
[35] Bansky, I want change, 2016
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List of Illustrations [01] Matheiu Lavanchy (2016) The House is a Machine for Capital Accumulation [online image] At: http://matthieulavanchy.com/works/home-economics (Accessed on: 23.12.16)
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[02] Matheiu Lavanchy (2016) Financial Crisis is the new normal [online image] At: http://matthieulavanchy.com/works/home-economics (Accessed on: 23.12.16)
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[03] Matheiu Lavanchy (2016) Nothing Exist outsude the sphere of Captitalism [online image] At: http://matthieulavanchy.com/works/home-economics (Accessed on: 23.12.16)
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[04] Matheiu Lavanchy (2016) In all statistical probability, you’ll never own home [online image] At: http://matthieulavanchy.com/works/home-economics (Accessed on: 23.12.16)
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[05] Bansky [2014] No future [online image] At: http://leniloizou.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/newbanksy2.jpg (Accessed on 29.12.16)
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[06] David Harvey [2004] Space as a key word Matrix [online image] At: http://www.frontdeskapparatus.com/files/harvey2004.pdf (Accessed on 19.11.16)
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[07] Vidal Tape [2016] Page 24 Tree Cities and a House [Online Image] At: http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/782597/ilustraciones-cinta-vidal (Accessed on 04.01.17) [08] AHMM [2014] Elephant Park aerial view [Render] Coutesy of AHMM.
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[09] Unknown [1966] Page 27 Playtime Shot in 70mm [Film] At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-films-shot70mm (Accessed on 11.11.16
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[10] Tager Yacey IV [2011] Times Square [Online Image] At: http://www.westinnewyorkgrandcentral.com/things-to-do-in-newyork-city (Accesed on 11.11.16)
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[11] Unknown [2007] Home Economics [Scanned Image] In: Home Economics. J. Self 2016
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[12] George Finch [1966] Artist Impression [Drawing] At: http://www.utopialondon.com/cotton-gardens (Accesed on 23.11.16)
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[13] Tim Tinker [1972] Courtyard, Heygate Estate, Southwark Council [Image] Image courtesy of South Council Archives
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[14] AHMM [2014] Elephant Park [Render] Coutesy of AHMM
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[15] AHMM [2014] Elephant Park Concierge [Render] Coutesy of AHMM
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[16] Group 2[2014] This is Tomorrow [Online Image] At: http://independentgroup.org.uk/contributors/image_library/index. html (Accesed on 04.01.17)
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[17] Sylvin Marcias Dias [2014] ADO Lissere D’OR [Online Image] At: http://www.tschumi.com/projects/14/ (Accesed on 06.11.15)
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[18] PLP Architects [2016] Cafe - Old Oak [Online Image] At: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/04/05/co-living-shared-collective-accommodation-housing-millennials-trend-common-wework/ (Accesed on 04.01.17)
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List of Illustrations [19] Anna Midly (2016) Naked Apartment [Scanned Image] In: Home Economics. J. Self (2016) Pg 109 [20] PLP Architects [2016] Stratford Collective [Online Image] At: https://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/17/plp-architecture-genuinely-affordable-co-living-skyscraper-stratford-london/ (Accesed on 04.01.17)
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[21] PLP Architects [2016] Stratford Collective- Aerial view [Online Image] At: https://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/17/plp-architecture-genuinely-affordable-co-living-skyscraper-stratford-london/ (Accesed on 04.01.17)
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[22] PLP Architects [2016] Stratford Collective : Progam Diagram [Online Image] At: https://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/17/plp-architecture-genuinely-affordable-co-living-skyscraper-stratford-london/ (Accesed on 04.01.17)
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[23] Tim Tinker [1972] Courtyard, Heygate Estate, Southwark Council [Image] Image courtesy of South Council Archives
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[24] MAKE Architects [2014] Elephant Park: Garden [Render] Coutesy of MAKE Architects
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[25] MAKE Architects [2014] Elephant Park: Garden [Render] Coutesy of MAKE Architects
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[26] AHMM [2014] Elephant Park: Gym [Render] Coutesy of AHMM Architects
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[27] AHMM [2014] Elephant Park: West Grove Club [Render] Coutesy of AHMM Architects
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[28] Southwark Council [1973] Heygate Estate [Photograph] Image Courtesy of Southwark Council Archives
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[29] Getty [2015] Future Technology [Online Image] At: http://infinigeek.com/technology-advancing-too-fast/ (Accesed on 05.01.17)
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[30] Hawkins Brown Architects [2007] Heathrow City [Online Image] At: http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/projects/heathrow-city (Accesed on 05.01.17)
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[31] ICA [1953] This is Tomorrow [Online Image] At: http://independentgroup.org.uk/contributors/image_library/index. html (Accesed on 04.01.17)
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[32] Hawkins Brown Architects [2007] Heathrow City [Online Image] At: http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/projects/heathrow-city (Accesed on 05.01.17)
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[33] Justin [2015] Smart Home Panels [Online Image] At: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/64/60855/honeywell-i-m-home-theinternet-of-things-and-the-new-domestic-landscape/ (Accesed on 03.12.16)
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[34] Time [2015] Cover of the Time ( July 4 -17 2014) [Online Image] At: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/64/60855/honeywell-i-m-home-theinternet-of-things-and-the-new-domestic-landscape/ (Accesed on 03.12.16)
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[35] Banksy [2011] I want Change Image] At: https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1.oYvHVXXXXa9XFXXq6xXFXXXs/ Banksy-I-want-Change-graffiti-street-art-on-Canvas-ACEO-super-deal24x30-inch.jpg (Accesed on 07.01.17)
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Ayomikun Rosanwo ayorosanwo@gmail.com ayorosanwo.com 1301713